Thursday, January 27, 2011

Puzzle Pieces.

I love puzzles! I'm so cheesy when I do puzzles because I can't help but think of a million different life analogies as I work on it. So, of course, I'm going to share the one that affected me most during this puzzle.

As I begin a puzzle, I get such a rush when I see all the puzzle pieces thrown on the table before me. I begin by separating the end pieces and the four corners. Then, I begin creating my border. When I completed my border, I noticed 4 pieces didn't fit toward the bottom. I left them pending until a few days into the puzzle because I couldn't see them fit anywhere.

I became so frustrated because I usually get the border the first time around. My husband noticed and decided to take a stab at it. Then, he had the audacity to tell me to return it because they gave me a bad puzzle. I started laughing because there was no way that happened.

A day before finishing the puzzle, I realized I had forced a piece that looked like it fit in 2 different places. That made all those pieces unable to fit. As I was adjusting my error, I realized that in life, we sometimes force things that aren't meant to be. We choose our will instead of the Lord's will in our lives. When we do, we see the consequences of those choices. The opposite is true.

When we allow the pieces in life to fall into place, they do. The promises of the Lord are true yesterday, today, and forever. Twice in one week I've read that God is no respecter of man. It's true. If you follow the principles of God's truth, whether or not you believe in Him, you will be blessed. Jethro Kloss said it best:
"When physical law is obeyed by any human being, whether good or bad, he will reap the reward God has promised. When a man, who does not believe in God, tills his soil properly and sows and plants properly, God gives him sunshine and rain the same as he does a righteous man, for God is no respecter of persons."
The other quote was from another book I just read by Jackie Mize:
"God is no respecter of persons. Abide in the Word of God and let His Word abide in you and you can ask what you will and it will be done for you (Acts 10:34, John 15:7)."
Don't force pieces of the puzzle because the bigger picture is perfectly created. You just have to make sure the right pieces go in their place, so when you step back and see it completed, it is just as it should be.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

The Bigger Picture.

During my quiet time with the Lord yesterday, I read 1 John 2:15-17 and was cut to the heart. I put the verse as my recent update on Facebook but felt a prodding to go deeper into how clearly this passage affects us daily. 

The passage reads as follows (NIV):
"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever."
Now having cable, it's so tempting to watch the latest reality shows (I'm not talking about Jersey Shore...I won't stoop that low), but at times I find myself casually getting sucked into the life of the Kardashians. The one I watch the most is actually a very pleasant reality show that I've loved for years, House Hunters on HGTV. 

The media, socialites with their own shows, celebrities, and reality shows in general have taken over. But when you really look at them, all they offer are the "cravings of sinful man, the lust of the eyes and the boasting of what he has and does." All that you find now is each bragging about how expensive this or that is, how much the dress they wore at an awards show cost, or what they do or how many fans they have...etc. It's so empty because all it offers is what the world has: temporary satisfaction, but no truth.

Even the one I watch most, House Hunters, is about couples looking for the right home. They end up with the top 3 and you get to guess along with the show which one they choose (I'm normally wrong...lol). Regardless, something as nice and simple as that show makes me long for desires of this world. I've noticed how when people choose the perfect home, it's so much about the "stuff". Bigger is better, nicer appliances, bedrooms so large that you don't know what to fill it with, closets sometimes bigger than some peoples apartments, and yet there's still little satisfaction. 

As a society, we always want more. Guess what? The world never satisfies the lust of the flesh, so it will keep you wanting more and more with nothing but emptiness at the end of the tunnel. 

BUT...

The Lord offers us a hope in him. He will give us eternal life, eternal love...one that only he can give that satisfies beyond anything the world can attempt to offer. 

I exhort my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to go beyond the desires of the world. It's easy to get caught up in it...I have. But look at the BIGGER picture. It's only a short time we're on this earth, and it's not meant for our fleshly satisfaction or our society's "life is short so live how you want" mantra. It's meant to reach others for Christ. 

"The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever."